


Sit Back Down Where You Belong

by butterflycell



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Gender Changes, F/F, First Time, Fluff, Rule 63, Slow Burn, rewrite of an old fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-23
Updated: 2014-07-23
Packaged: 2018-02-10 03:02:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2008452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflycell/pseuds/butterflycell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It had been twenty two months since she'd last sat in the company of her best friend with a glass of good, solid whiskey.</p><p>(Rule 63 rewrite of 'You & I')</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sit Back Down Where You Belong

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shiptoomuch](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shiptoomuch/gifts), [slashsailing](https://archiveofourown.org/users/slashsailing/gifts).
  * Inspired by [You & I](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1068842) by [butterflycell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/butterflycell/pseuds/butterflycell). 



> Because I was curious as to how gender swapping a slash pairing would affect the pairing. I always find that cisswap fics tend to lose the characterisations in the translation, so how would it work if you took an existing canon-gender fic and just change pronouns and necessary physical attributes? 
> 
> I challenge everyone to try this! Just tag with Rule 63 and if we get enough, we can start a collection!
> 
> Enjoy - I'll be doing a couple more of my fics at some point :)

Jaime sat on the couch in her quarters, dressed down in soft, comfortable clothes. She swirled a glass of whiskey slowly, watching the way the low lighting changed the golden colour of it. It was the real stuff, for the first time in a _long_ time. She only had the genuine article when Bones insisted upon it. The stuff in her glass now was Bones' favourite Kentucky bourbon, and it only served to highlight just how inferior Scotty's ship brewed version was.   
  
It had been almost two years since she'd last had a taste of real whiskey.   
  
It had been twenty two months since she'd last sat in the company of her best friend with a glass of good, solid whiskey.   
  
Enterprise's latest mission had carried them off into uncharted space, and in the space of less than two years, Jaime had successfully made first contact with two separate species, negotiated a peace treaty and ushered a budding civilisation into the Federation - but she'd done with without Bones. She'd gone into the black without her best friend, and she'd thought that a two year jaunt would be simple – they'd be out and back in no time, and Bones would be ready to come home when they did.   
  
But the reality had been different, something that she wasn't quite ready to face, but had been forced to nonetheless.   
  
It had been twenty two months of slowly dawning realisation that she'd left more than her best friend behind. Twenty two months of settling for a half-hearted video calls if their schedules allowed, already knowing that it wasn't enough.   
  
Yes, Bones was well, she was safe and she was enjoying her work, but she was still _gone_. She wasn't there to roll her eyes when Jaime got bored of stellar cartography, she wasn't there to haul her ass to sickbay after an away mission with unexpected complications. She wasn't there to make her sleep after being awake for fifty hours straight.   
  
It had taken a good few months before Jaime tried to simulate some of the easy atmosphere she was starting to ache for at the end of her shift. It wasn't the same – how could it ever be the same without Bones grouching about 'idiots' in engineering? - but cradling a glass of Scotty's home brew with the lights dimmed was enough to pull up some of the memories of the real thing.   
  
It wasn't brilliant – Scotty could never quite get the right smoky taste or acrid burn as it went down – but it was acceptable.   
  
But this, the drink she was cradling now, _this_ was real.   
  
The bottle had been sitting on the coffee table when she came off shift, a note scrawled on a piece of actual paper.   
  
\--   
  
Over the past decade, since the horrors of Nero and the destruction of Vulcan, the Federation had been dedicating a steady and constant flow of resources to the settling of New Vulcan. It was seen as a top priority for all that the Vulcan race be returned to it's former stature as the leading authority in scientific research, but the systems for supporting the weakened population were the first to be addressed.   
  
In the time between the loss of their home planet and the decimation of Starfleet command by Khan and Admiral Marcus, New Vulcan had managed to created habitable and comforting settlements in prime locations around the planet. In the year that spanned Jim's recovery and the Enterprise's repairs, the new infrastructure was being planned to roll out across the planet.   
  
Whilst the Enterprise and her crew were searching out the deepest corners of the known and unknown universe, New Vulcan recreated large amounts of their past research, building libraries and labs and filling shelves and databases with everything that could be extrapolated and remembered. By the time Jaime brought her crew home, New Vulcan was flourishing as the first waves of students began graduating from their programmes and moved into forging their own research.   
  
Despite the solidifying of their past and present, there were still clear gaps in their infrastructure – primarily their ability to provide widespread and effect medical care across the board. So far, the growing interest in medical sciences had seen graduates move off-planet, something that was already showing signs of damage to the population. It was perfectly understandable that the Vulcan High Command would want this situation addressed.   
  
What Jaime didn't get is why they needed _Bones_.   
  
Sure, Bones was perhaps the most respected medic in the 'fleet – both for her actions on the Enterprise and for her status as one of the leading minds in xenoneurology, despite the demands on her time that being CMO to Captain Jaime T. Kirk implied. Jaime was perfectly happy, proud even, of Bones' standing in the medical community, but she was hardly thrilled at what it meant now.   
  
But the High Command had asked for her help explicitly – swayed by the way she'd accommodated them after the rescue from Vulcan – and 'Old Spock' had spoken with her personally, so there was really no way that Bones wouldn't lend a hand. Bones had 'duty' and 'loyalty' written in her core, and Jaime was well aware that she'd always benefited hugely from those two traits. Until now.   
  
She liked to think that Bones would have told them no, in short, sharp words, had it not been for her personal connections to the people asking. She liked to think that Bones would roll her eyes and say she was too busy keeping her Captain in one piece. But this was Bones, and she was being asked to help make an entire civilisation safe from preventable illnesses, so of course she agreed.   
  
She'd done her best to save as much of their shore leave as she could, but then Jaime's new mission came in and the Enterprise set sail and Jaime had been forced to leave Bones at the shuttle bay in San Francisco. She'd smiled, told her it wouldn't be that long and that she better damn well come back in one piece, and Jaime had clapped her on the back and told her not to go too insane in the Land of Logic. It had been a challenge not to look back over her shoulder as she got onto the shuttle that would take her back up home.   
  
Jaime had sailed off, Bones had – reluctantly, with much grumbling and complaining – been shipped off to New Vulcan, and for the first time since they'd met on that shuttle in Riverside, Jaime had to work out how to exist without her best friend to ground her.   
  
\--   
  
The orders for the course deviation were a last minute request from headquarters, but Jaime wasn't overly concerned. Taking a detour past New Vulcan would only add a day or so to their ultimate schedule, and she was certain that Spock would appreciate being able to see the thriving new world with his own eyes.   
  
They'd been asked to conduct a series of meetings to discuss the progress of a small fleet of ships, as well as to take on various supplies and personnel that needed transportation back to Earth. Jaime had taken Spock, Scotty and a small team from engineering dirtside with her, and Sulu had overseen the arrangements for accommodating their new cargo. In the back of her mind, she was painfully aware of the fact that Bones would be among the new passengers for their trip home.   
  
She'd put that out of mind though, and listened careful to the discussions that went on around her. Scotty was in his element, getting into a complex conversation about the possibility of increased efficiency of current warp calculations, and Spock was interrogating the delegates from the flight program about their appropriation of 'Old Spock's technological knowledge. It seemed that the old man was just as mysterious about that as he was about Jaime's destiny, which suited her just fine.   
  
But now their work was done, and they were back aboard the Enterprise. Jaime set a course home and they were off. She took advantage of the quiet to start on the paperwork that the day's trip had caused and discreetly checked for Bones' whereabouts. She couldn't help but smile when the computer informed her that Bones had wasted no time on getting caught up with the medical events from the past mission – and Jaime was sure she'd get an earful at some point.   
  
Part of her had wanted to go find her, to bring her close and not let go for a long time to come, but there was an uncertainty there. Bones had been gone a long time, after all. It would be a strain on any friendship, and Jaime wasn't entirely convinced that she could bound into sickbay and expect nothing to have changed. The thought of seeing proof of that change had kept her safely on deck for the remaining hours of her shift.   
  
Of course, it also lead her to sequester herself away in her ready room and catch up on any and all paperwork she had lying around. By the time that was sorted, it was well into gamma shift. She'd headed back to her quarters, and that was when she'd found the new bottle of liquor waiting for her. It felt a lot like an invitation.   
  
“Computer, locate Lieutenant Commander McCoy.” Jaime rubbed her eyes, putting the drink down.   
  
“ _Lieutenant Commander McCoy currently located in her private quarters._ ” Jaime paused, chewing absently at the inside of of her cheek for a moment.   
  
“What's her status?” She asked, leaning forwards a little.   
  
“ _Lieutenant Commander McCoy has dimmed lights to five percent and set an alarm for 0600._ ” She smiled a little at that. Bones was just going to drop right back into her place on board, no acclimating required. Without further thought, Jaime got to her feet and followed the tugging in her chest that was growing more and more insistent.   
  
She made her way quietly through the now empty corridors. She trailed her fingers absently along the wall as she went, counting off the doors and deliberately running them across the faint bumps of rivets and seams on the wall panels. Her heart was starting to pound just a little in her chest and it was getting mildly uncomfortable. If she stopped though, she would back away and never, ever let her head stray back to where it was now – and she was fairly sure that she didn't want that to happen.   
  
She stopped outside Bones' quarters, stared at the panel. Until a few hours ago, it had read “ _CMO Geoffrey M'Benga_ ”. Seeing that had done unspeakable things to Jaime's gut at first, but then she'd learned to avoid this part of the ship, which turned out to be much easier than she'd thought. M'Benga was a good guy, and seemed to have taken it upon himself to channel Bones whenever Jaime tried to dodge a physical or hide an injury, but he could never quite replicate the fond annoyance that Bones conveyed so well.   
  
But seeing that little line of text now was telling her that everything was back where it should be. Had she been a more romantic person, Jaime might have said that seeing Bones' name had settled the universe back on its axis.   
  
She wasn't though, and all Jaime felt was a loosening of tension she hadn't really appreciated was there.   
  
She dialled in the code Bones had given to her on the first day of that first mission, and she felt a small jolt in the region of her stomach when the door opened. Part of her crowed gently at the fact that Bones had already returned her entrance code to what it had been last time she'd been aboard. If that wasn't a promising sign, she didn't know what was.   
  
She stepped into the room, glancing about her. It was a little bare, with Bones' possessions still packed into transport cases sitting to one side of the large room. One was open, a few pieces of clothing spilling from the top. She took another step and the door closed behind her. She heard a slight rustling from the opposite end of the room and glanced over to see Bones stirring out of a doze.   
  
“Jaime?” Her voice was low, husky from sleep but real and free of the slight but infuriating modulation that was to be expected of any kind of video call, no matter how clear the signal. Jaime couldn't help but smile a little.   
  
“Hey.” She turned, head cocked to one side as Bones shifted on her back and propped herself up on her elbows, frowning at her. Jaime felt something calming wash through her, something like nostalgia and comfort and home.   
  
She just stood there and watched Bones watching her, watching the frown soften into something affectionate and inviting. Jaime's heart stuttered. It must've shown in her expression if the way Bones narrowed her eyes a little was anything to go by. She was just lying there, her old college tee on, her sheets puddled round her waist and a pair of soft flannel pants hinted at, hiding the dip of her hipbones as they went south.   
  
And just like that, something broke away inside of Jaime and she found the answer to a question she hadn't even begun to contemplate. Something throbbed inside her, strong and potent and all she could think about was getting close to Bones again, feeling her body heat, smelling the old Earth soap she loved so much. She just wanted to be near her, to be breathing the same air again.   
  
She crossed the room slowly, stripping his own t-shirt off and wriggling her track pants down her hips so she could step out of them without having to stop. She watched Bones the whole time, waiting for any indication of discomfort, anything to tell her she'd got this wrong and she needed to run, but Bones was just frowning slightly as Jaime stood there in just her bra and boxers and pulled back the sheets.   
  
“What're you...?” Jaime didn't reply, just knelt across Bones' hips and settled down against her, pulling the sheets up round her back as she braced her forearms on the bed. She held herself over Bones, keeping enough distance that she wasn't crowding her, but not enough that she left any doubt as to what she was thinking. Bones had let herself fall back against the pillows, her eyes flickering from Jaime's own to her mouth, her throat, her shoulders and back again. Jaime just watched her.   
  
“Is this okay?” Jaime asked, finally, her voice strained and betraying her a little. Bones stayed silent, regarding her for a long, almost painful few moments. But then her hands moved to Jaime's side, one sliding round to grip at the small of her back, one moving up to brush back her bangs and cup the back of her neck, and she pulled Jaime down into a slow, secure kiss.   
  
It was warm and inviting and Bones tasted of the same whiskey Jaime had been drinking earlier. She smelt strange, of where ever she'd been based on the planet surface. Her hands held firm and Jaime couldn't help pressing down into her, a thoughtless reaction to the circumstance. She felt Bones shift under her, the pressure on her back encouraging the movement. She rolled her hips down slightly and Bones sighed.   
  
“You know how to keep a girl waiting, Jaime.” She said gently, breaking the kiss but nudging their noses together gently. The fingers resting on the back of her neck crept up to tug at the short hair at the back of her head. Jim smiled and pressed a softer, teasing kiss to Bones' mouth, sucking at her bottom lip and earning a low growl of annoyance.   
  
Bones shifted her hips again and if Jaime didn't already have her eyes closed, the slight friction would have done the job for her. She was a little relieved and a lot pleased to feel Bones tensing under her. She dug her knees into the mattress to gain some traction and pushed up, forcing Bones' head back slightly, her mouth opening further and Jaime took every last scrap of advantage.   
  
Bones' hand slid from her hair, nails dragging down her back, both hands moving down to grab her ass. The heat of her hands was barely dampened by the material of her boxers and Jaime really couldn't help the way her blood was starting to move downwards. She kissed Bones hard, sucking at her tongue and biting at her lips – and Bones gave back as good as she got, her fingers starting to bite in and pull Jaime's hips down.   
  
Her breath hitched in her throat and she felt Bones smile. She rutted up into Jaime, rubbing their hips together in a way that sent a buzz of pleasure through her groin. Jaime just kept kissing her, messy and slow, letting Bones set a matching rhythm. She felt a rising need to step things up, to hold Bones down and devour her, but the strong, easy feel of the grip on her ass kept it at bay.   
  
Everything was a slow burn, settling under her skin. One moment she was perfectly content to lie there in Bones' arms, the next she was aching to rip away the material between them. She found herself kissing Bones like it was all she really wanted to do for the next few days. How the hell had she not realised this before? She'd known Bones for more than a decade but it wasn't until she was gone that Jaime sat up and noticed.   
  
She felt the firm grip on her ass loosen and made a noise of protest, only for Bones to bite down in placation as she ran her hands up Jaime's back again, palms flat and warm and a little possessive. Jaime shuddered at the contact, moving her arms so she could run a hand through Bones' hair. She broke the kiss, mouthing a lazy path from the sharp corner of Bones' jaw, down to the shape of her collarbone beneath the soft material of her tee. Bones' fingers flexed against her back, working open the clasp of her bra, her hips stuttering upwards as Jaime let his teeth graze the skin between her ear and hairline.   
  
Jaime let Bones pull her bra free of her arms and toss it to one side. She couldn't help writhing as Bones cupped her breasts, thumbs rubbing her nipples gently, adding friction that was both glorious and irritating as hell. She wriggled a little and shifted a hand down to start pulling at Bones' pyjamas, the other woman obligingly shifting her hips until she could work them down far enough to kick off. She made quick work of Jaime's boxers and Jaime just kissed her again, a little desperate now.   
  
Jaime pushed herself up so she could work her hands under Bones' tee, running her fingers over the smooth planes of her stomach. She hiked the material up to bare her breasts and kneaded them gently. Bones just watched her, thumbs rubbing teasingly against the ridges of her hips.   
  
Jaime smiled a little as she let her hand drift south slowly, finally, getting to press against Bones' clit. She dipped a finger between her folds and rubbed slowly. Bones let out a broken moan, eyes sliding closed and Jaime leaned in kissed the sound away as she stroked at the hot flesh beneath her hand. Bones panted against her mouth, hips shuddering up into Jaime's and Jaime just took her time.   
  
She let her touch lighten and reached for Bones' hand. Bones came back to herself a little, one hand reclaiming its grip on Jaime's ass as the other moved between them. Their fingers linked as Jaime moved them between her legs, rubbing her clit together, stroking and teasing and making her arch. Jaime could feel the wetness from Bones' lips on her fingers, and just the idea of it sent a spark skittering into her hips and her hand jerked convulsively. She practically whined as Bones pressed back, and she had to let go of Bones' hand to hold herself up as she picked up the pace, mouth biting at Bones' neck and collar bones.   
  
“Fuck, _fuck_ , Bones.” Jaime let her eyes fall closed, her head dropping forwards as she tried to fight back the tell-tale signs of her approaching orgasm.   
  
“Christ.” Was Bones' only reply, sucking hard at the muscle of Jaime's shoulder as their hands began to move more frantically, knuckles knocking together.   
  
In the end, it was nothing more that Bones' breath against her ear and a whispered ' _Jaime_ ' that sent her over the edge, coming hard and fast. Her hips jerked and stuttered violently against Bones, her thighs clenching around Bones' hips. She cried out and buried her face in Bones' neck as Bones followed her over the edge, hips bucking up into her hand to ride through it.   
  
The hot, dizzying buzz of their orgasms slowly ebbed away leaving Jaime panting and feeling a bone-deep contentment. She listened to the frantic beating of Bones' heart, the harsh panting as she struggled to get her breathing back under control. She felt the slow stroke of fingers over her sides and her hips and she just settled more comfortably against her.   
  
“Don't you dare fall asleep right now.” Bones growled, her fingers digging in threateningly. Jaime smiled, not bothering to open her eyes.   
  
“Sorry, but I think I'm too comfy.” Jaime made a point to make herself just a little more like dead weight and Bones huffed against her ear.   
  
“Come on.” She eased them onto their sides and pulled back the covers enough to make Jaime shiver and rouse herself enough to strip her boxers off. Bones sat up and tugged off her t-shirt, Jaime watching her closely as she took the clean side to wipe their hands and thighs. She tossed it to the side with Jaime's boxers and her pants followed soon after.   
  
Then the sheets were being pulled back up around their shoulders and Bones kissed her again. It was slow and promising, any easy exchange that left Jaime feeling about as peaceful as she could remember being. She smiled sleepily and broke away.   
  
“We should probably talk about this at some point.” Bones said gently, fingers brushing against Jaime's throat.   
  
“Sure, but it can wait until tomorrow, preferably after some awesome morning sex.” She grinned and Bones rolled her eyes in a way that was brilliantly familiar and made something throb in Jaime's chest. “Welcome home, Bones.”   
  
She let the grin soften and coaxed Bones to turn over so she could wrap herself around her. She felt Bones sigh, a long heave of something being lifted from her shoulders. Jaime buried her smile in the back of Bones' neck as she held her close, already looking forward to waking up and falling for her best friend all over again.


End file.
